Collected Works of George Griffith by George Griffith

Author:George Griffith [Griffith, George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Delphi Main Series
Publisher: Delphi Classics
Published: 2020-08-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER V

THE CHOICE OF MANCO

BY LAW AND custom alike it was his right to claim the first audience, for, saving only the Inca himself, he stood highest in rank, even as he was noblest in descent, among all the princes and nobles of Quito. Nay, he was more even than this, though in the stress of his sorrow and the whirl of emotions which the experiences of the night had given birth to he had forgotten it: his blood was purer and his true rank higher even than that of the crowned despot who now sat on the golden throne of Quito, for, by the laws of the Divine ancestor from whom he took his name, he stood next in succession after his brother Huascar to the imperial borla and the rightful lordship of the Northern and Southern kingdoms.

Had he remembered this it might have saved him from a near and deadly peril, and yet, again, it might not, for so strong were his pity and his love and his sorrow that he would have pleaded, at least, for Nahua’s life even with the threat of the flames sounding in his ears.

But he thought nothing of any peril save that of his darling and her dear ones, as he took a light spear from one of the guards, and, laying it across his shoulders in the fashion prescribed by the ancient custom, took his way to the front of the terrace and stood with his body slightly bent before Atahuallpa’s throne. The Inca’s face flushed, and his black brows came closer together, but his voice was mild and smooth when he said —

“So my brother is the first to come and ask a boon or a gift of me, though he was not among those who brought their loyal greetings to the door of my chamber.”

“It was from no lack of duty, Lord,” replied Manco, still keeping his head bent down and his eyes on the foot of the throne. “I only returned to the city at daybreak, and then the guard refused me admittance to the palace. But for that I had not only saluted the majesty of my Lord but given him also a message of moment that I had brought.”

“From whence?” said the Inca, sharply interrupting him. “If you were not in the city, where were you?”

“On the altar of the Unknown on Yavira, Lord!” answered Manco, raising his head and looking him unflinchingly in the eyes. “And from thence I saw Pichincha put on her fire-crown, and heard the voices of the demons shouting in the halls of the under-world, and felt the earth beneath me tremble with the strength of their struggles as they sought to free themselves from their bondage. And then I saw the Llapa leap up out of the Westward, where they say the pale strangers are, and burst over the city, and Mama-Lupa the priestess was with me, and at her bidding I came to bid thee and all thy people make ready to appease the wrath of the Divine Ones who are angry with their children.

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